Machine for uniting looped fabrics



Aug. 15, 1933. G. VAGLER MACHINE FOR UNITING LOOPED FABRICS 11 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 16, 1931 Nu W INVENTOR ATZI'CIJRNEY Aug. 15, 1933. G. VAGLER MACHINE FOR UNITING LOOPED FABRICS Filed June 16, 1931 ll Sheets-Sheet 2 EN km INVENTOR &/ 21 4 ATTORNEY Aug. 15, 1933- v G, VAGLER I 1,923,005

MACHINE FOR UNITING LOOPED FABRICS Filed June 16, 1931 11 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR ATTO.RNEY

Aug. 15, 1933. G. VAGLER MACHINE FOR UNITING LOOPED FABRICS Filed June 16, 1951 ll Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR QM ATTORNEY Aug. 15, 1933. G. VAGLER 1,923,005

MACHINE FOR UNITING LOOPED FABRICS Filed June 16, 1931 ll Sheets-Sheet 5 ATTORNEY Aug. 15. 1933. s. VAGLER MACHINE FOR UNITING LOOPED FABRICS Filed June 16, 1931 ll SheetsSheet 6 INVENTOR ATTORN EY Aug. 15, 1933.

G. VAGLER I MACHINE FOR UNITING LOOPED FABRICS ll Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed June 16, 1931 169 240 27 :Illmnm wily/li y ATTORNEY Aug. 15, 1933. VAGLER MACHINE FOR UNITING LOOFED FABRICS Filed June 1 6, 1931 11 Sheets-Sheet 8 INVENTOR m Z I BY I,

ATTORN EY Aug. 15, 1933'. G, VAGLER 1,923,005

MACHINE FOR UNITING LOOPED FABRICS Filed June 16, 1931 ll Sheets-Sheet 9 1a 1 4 E60 CD 256 q 2 263 I M V f 262 J I 25 INVENTOR Aug. 15, 1933. VA L 1,923,005

MACHINE FOR UNITING LOOPED FABRICS Filed June 16, 1951 ll Sheets-Sheet lo I 86 84- %.20 "K 5:, I v

21T- Lix J 5 as 1 m pp 4/; INVEN? M BY ATTORNEY Aug. 15, 1933. G. VAGLER 1,923,005

MACHINE FOR UNITING LOOPED FABRICS Filed June 16, 1931 ll Sheets-Sheet 11 INVENTOR r 7 I I ATTORN EY Patented Aug. 15, 1933 MACHINE FOB UNHTENG- LUQFEED Gertrude Vagler, Brooklyn, Sulloway Milis, Franklin, N. E

of New Hampshire Application June-16, i931. gerial No. u

53 Claims. (Cl. lib-) This invention relates to machines provided with looping mechanism for uniting knittedor other looped fabrics, and pertains more particularly to an automatic machine adapted to perform automatically the various operations involved in uniting successive pieces of work.

The machine of the present invention is I signed more particularly tounite the body and upper of hosiery but'may be employed to unite other looped fabrics. Such uniting or looping operation has been performed heretofore by placing the body of a sock and the upper or cuff, in an annular head or cylinder so that the pcr tions of the hosiery to be united are supported by impaling pins projecting from the head.

The annular head provided with the portions of the hosiery to be united is then presented to stitching or looping mechanism having a needle operable to place the uniting thread about the pair of fabric loops supported by each impel/ling pin, and it has been proposed heretofore to provide adjacent the looping mechanism a rotating carrier or turret, adapted to present the heads successively to the stitching or looping mechanism. It has also been proposed heretofore to provide means for trimming the fabric and for brushing away the trimmed portions before thefabric carried by the headis 1': esented to the stitching or looping mechanism.

The uniting or looping machines proposed heretofore, however, ha e been only partially automatic in that heretofore each time the operation of uniting the fabrics carried'by a head has been completed, the services of a machine attendant have been required to remove the finished head from the stitching mechanism and initiate the stitching operation upon the next head presented by the carrier or turret.

The present invention contemplates a machine which is adapted to perform automatically all of the operations involved in uniting the upon successive headsso that all hat is necessary is to supply the heads having the portions of the fabric to be united held by the impaling pins conveyor belts; whereupon the machine of the present invention will perform automatically the operations of delivering the heads successively to a rotating carrieror turret, which moved periodically to present each head successivelyto trimming, brushing, looping mechanism, and after the looping operation is completed upon a head it is automatically removed from the carrier or turret.

In accordance with the present invention the fabric carrying heads are rotatably supported by sid a carrier or turret which is rotated periodically through a suffic from opera no it or station to another, and means is for rotating each head relative to thmechanism and other mechanism. support by tor. ,caliy work s employ differ in and to provide "n ans for operating these separate groups of dev in timed relation with each other.

One impor tion i i g the ea ner or turret; anct-er in means for ating heads; a thin i neans for-autoding one of these operations .u being performed; a fourth in holding the carrier in a fixed posiheads uniting successive pieces necessary to H ex) 'aticaily sue-1 tion while the stitching and other operations led on the rotv heads are being cornin r eans for arresting the [re the carrier or turret perior pleteu, and i Another feature the present invention rein rotatably mounted upon the caradaptcd to the annular rei so that they will be roinseted tated by the slee Another ature the present invention resides in transfer mechanism ada' ted to convey the heads to be 0 er upon fr m a pointof supply to t ca to remove the heads which have been operated upon from the carrier.

order to perfo the stitching or looping operation upon the successive ust be taken not to prematurely out the needle during the opera/hon of r moving a completed head l stitching ...echanism. In

' 1e resent inventionthe thread needle is not out until the thread attached thereto looping mechanism and o and the looping To accomplish the sewing needle and provided both needles nod at this time so that reeiy through the eyes of also the lo are employed, are po the thread :iay pass I these need s.

This desi able operation is secured in accordance with the present invention by providing means adapted to bring the needles to rest in a predetermined position upon the completion of the uniting operation. In carrying out this feature of the present invention means are provich ed for engaging a part upon the needle operat ing shaft, upon completion of the uniting operations, to rotate the shaft in the reversed direc tion to thereby disengage the needles from the work and from the thread loops so that the threads will pull freely through the eyes of the needles during the indexing operation.

Another feature of the present invention resides in means for automatically severing the threads adjacent the work supporting heads.

Further features of the invention reside in stop mechanism for stopping the operation of the present machine in case any one of several defects occur during the machine operation. More particularly these features of the machine reside in the following safety stop mechanisms:

(1) Means adapted to stop the machine in case an annular head is not supplied at the transfer receiving point ready to be conveyed by the transferrer to the carrier or turret.

(2') Means for stopping the machine in case a head is notproperly positioned upon the rotating carrier or turret.

(3) Means for stopping the machine in case a thread supplied to the needle or to the looper breaks or becomes too slack; and

(4) Means for stopping the machine in case a knot is formed in the thread supplied to either needle.

Other features of the invention and novel combination of parts in addition to the above will be hereinafter described in connection with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate one good practical form of the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the machine constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of stop mechanism provided at the point'where the heads are delivered to the transferrer.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the machine of Fig. 1. v

Fig. 3 on an enlarged scale is a vertical sectional view with parts in section through the major portion of the machine shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view through the supportingshaft for the belts that deliver the heads to the transferrer.

Fig. 5 on an enlarged scale is a top plan View with parts broken away of part of the rotating turret and associated mechanism.

Fig. 6 on an enlarged scale is a top plan view of a head and associated trimming mechanism.

Fig. 7 is a side view of the mechanism shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 88 of Fig. 6 and shows means for straightening the portions of the fabric to be trimmed.

Fig. 9 is a side elevation of the stitching mechanism, the adjacent head being shown partly in section.

Fig. 10 on an enlarged scale'is a horizontal sectional view of the impaling pins showing the looped fabric engaged therewith.

Fig. 11 is a rear view of the stitching mechanism of Fig. 9.

Fig. 12 is a top plan view of one of the four head engaging devices provided upon the transferrer.

Fig. 13 is a vertical sectional view of Fig. 12;

Fig. 14: is a bottom plan view of the parts of the transierrer shown in Fl. 12;

Fig. 15 is a face view looking towards the change gears of Fig. 5;

Fig. 16 is a sectional view taken on the line 16--16 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 17 is a top plan view with parts in section of a driving pulley that operates the machine;

Fig. 18 is a side view with part in section showinga portion of the transferrer in engagement with a head supplied by the infeed belts;

Fig. 19 is a side View with parts in section of the thread severing means;

Fig. 20 is a top plan view with parts in section of the twin clutches provided upon the main operating shaft;

Fig. 21 is a sectional view taken on the line 21-21 of Fig. 20 and shows a Geneva gear drive for rotating the annular heads;

Fig. 22 on an enlarged scale is a vertical sectional view through one head engaging portion of the transferrer;

Fig. 23 is a perspective view of the twin clutch mechanism upon the main shaft and the clutch controlling means;

Fig. 24. is a face view of a clutch controlling cam and associated parts of Fig. 23.

Fig. 25 is a top plan view of the Geneva gear for indexing the carrier or turret, the operating shafts being shown in section.

Fig. 26 is a side view of slack producing mechanism to be described and which is carried by the thread severing head; and

Fig. 2'? is a face view of the head for supporting the thread cutting and clamping means.

It isapparent that the mechanisms for carrying out the featuresof the present invention may be variously constructed and in the embodiment of the machine shown the various operating parts are supported by a main frame or casting 10, which is supported at the desired height. from the floor by the legs 11' and the frame 10 is shown as having a laterally extending structure 12 adapted to support the means, for supplying the annular heads to the machine and for conveying them therefrom. The annular heads 13 are conveyed from the supply belts, tobe described, to a rotating carrier or turret 14 by the revolving transferrer 15. I

While the carrier or turret 14 may be constructed to support any desired number of heads 13 and to advance them successively to the different stations or operating points, the carrier illustrated is provided with six head receiving portions disposed apart and as a result the carrier or turret 1 1 is rotated through one sixth of a complete revolution each time it is indexed to ad- Vance the heads from one operating point to another. The different stations, or operating points, are numbered upon the drawings as I to VI inclusive in the order in which the heads are advanced to these different stations. In the embodiment of the invention shown the heads 13 to be operated upon are deposited by the transferrer 15 uponthe carrier or turret at station No. I, they are trimmed atstation No. II, and at station No. III a rocking brush is provided for removing the trimmings from the portions of the fabric. The stitching or looping operation takes place at station No. IV. At station No. V the uniting threads extending from the finished head are severed and at. station No. VI the finished head is removed from the carrier, or turret. In the construction shown each annular head 13 has the cylindrical portion 15 which is closed at'its lower end as at l'l, and each head prone its upper end v ith an e inuiar flange 13 adapted to support the head while it is mounted upon the iler or to: st. Extending up wardiy from upp r end of the head are a largenuinber or impaling pins 19, h s" many pins as there are loops each fabric to be united. The p one of the body a of the sock and the portion b of the cuff are enor hosiery, gaged with the impaling pins, as shcwnin Fig. 9, and th remaining portion of the fabrics at and h are pushed down or" hollow head out of theway, shown in 9. 1 1e fahri s c and re conveniently held throughout various operations fro hei g forced upwardly, out of engagement wh the impali. pins 19 proiding the We ght 28, the outer annular portion of which inside of shoulder be described, to laminate it; upon thecarr' tui the heads from the t iret.

The present invent oral or a nur the portions of a or lates t i if; provided v ing' to unit-ed upon the feed i i, sock O1. stoo will be placed from t e to belts 23 so that a uiar go of each head rests upon upp r on oz feed belts while wardlv the body of the her u. c the s 168d belts, shown ner any do ed in n o-er of head towards the in position, shown in to he conveyed fro ferrer to t e station I or the revolving The belts around andare driven otatahl' between the supported by shaft their ends "or any suitahle means, not blown. The arrangement is such. att ds l3 belts 23 in the dlzelltifill I advanced by cat-ed hy the arrows until their travel in thi' rection is arrested, stops to he descriliee on the helts will continue travel raativ supported thereby.

It is important that 'ovided to iii-- chine might be shou e lowered before a h 'd ree Ml in position. In to present invention contemplates the of th to the rock shalt 2?, provided arm This arm is provided at its outer with a roller 29 to cooperate with 30 rigidly sec ire-Cl to the t operating this the oppositely tions, shown in Fig a; con, ously urged in a dGWZl. 31. The arrangern is of the stops 26 normally occupy the po which the are shown in dotted lines in as to engage the flange le'of a head 13 he: vanced towards the in position, and S91 arrest this head before it has been advanced or enough by the belts 23 to-he struck by the tran ferrer 15 when the latter islowered. As soon as by pro'vi the rotating the cam 30 has been rotated suificientlyto lower the stops 26 the head ust mentioned will he released and will he adv" need by the oelts 23 to the in lowered.

to in position. v the in no... of the tran ,"-C1l6l.l5 is again :elts 2 3 sufficiently t of a head from the sted by the stops 2-5 to uccessive l lowering ccordance with pres- .c the double function of dere rotating car and of and order to acnansi'eirer i5 is given the conwhich it will be is 1.4ovided wi h four dons or rings indicated upon The arrangeventio perfo- In "daily rcwhich is shown 3 so each of these four head receiv- 111g portions surrounds or embraces a head 13, and when the time arrives for conveying head from in position to the station I of the turret and for conveying at the time a comhleted roll; the VI position to out" position, "ausi rrer is raised to time pesaion in which 2 and is then rotated through whereupon the Vansferrer is iowe ed. to deliver one headsupnorted thereby to and the other head'car ied t nositlon. As above stated the J d through angular rotation 11 the t1: nsferrer 15 successive of the t through turre t which cast- "l secured the large ri'...g gear 33 and I a smaller gear 34 referrer 15, the size of e nsferr d ope ated by the hcl- 's mounted for vertical sleeve 36 which sleeve the oove mentioned, and 2-5 is keyed sleeve 36 to cause Vermont of the s -eeve to imft. e sleeve is journaled sing 37, which is l. andthe bearing r ly ovided hesveenthe per} mg casing 3'7.

" error 15 i lowered iere oy so that when ed, shown in Fig.

1g rame 10 clear of mechanism of e cit A rotation of the transshown in the drawings tor rrer to pick up the heads the pawls disposed at an angle of rrer 15. These pawls I ,r upper ends by e1 mounted in the ears &2 of the -r. Mach pawl 39 is provided near its with a proioo on 43 adapted to engage .1 annular shoulder ee 5-1 pawl is continuously urged towards the shoulder engaging position hy a spring 44 which of head 13 and provided with three p'awls 39, but the operation of these pawls is diiierent at the positions A,

B from that at A, B, since the arrangement is such that when the transferrer 15 is lowered the pawls 39 at the positions A and B engage under the shoulder 22 of a head 13 to raise the head, whereas the pawls 39 at the positions A, Bf are at this time retracted to release the heads.

In order to secure the proper operation of the pawls 39 at each of the four positions just mentioned the pawls are provided with the pawl retracting pins 46 slidably mounted in the ring 40 and positioned so that the head of the pin will engage the under face of an arm as best shown in Fig. 22. It is desirable at times to retain the pawls 39 in their retracted position. The pawl holding latches 47 are therefore provided and are pivotally supported at 48. These latches are provided with the compressed springs 49 adapted to engage the inner end of each latch with a lip 50 at the lower end of a pawl, to hold the pawl retracted. The pawl releasing pins 46 are so constructed that when these pins are moved to the position A of Fig. 1 they will abut against the surface of the turret 14, as shown in Figs. 3 and 22 to retract the pawls, and likewise when these pins 46 occupy the position B their lower ends will strike upon fixed surfaces, not shown, to retract the pawls.

The pawls 39 at the position A are held retracted by the latches 47 while the transferrer is being lowered and as the transferrer reaches its lowermost position the latches 47 are tripped by the engagement of their outer ends 51 with the fixed blocks 52 so as to release the pawls, see Fig. 13. At the same time the pawls at the B position, which are likewise held retracted by the latches 47, will be released by causing the downwardly extending tail 51 of these latches to strike against similar raised blocks 52 provided upon the upper surface or table 14 of the turret. As a result of the construction just described the lowering of the transferrer 15 will cause the pawls 39 to engage the heads13 at positions A, B, and to release the heads at positions A, B. a

Two of the three blocks 52 at the A position may be mounted upon the guide bars 53 disposed 7 adjacent the conveyor belts 23. The guides 54 adapted to center each head 13 asit moves into the A position may also be supported by the guide bars 53, as shown in Fig. 1 7

The heads 13 when placed upon the annular carrier or turret 14 should be rotated at the different stations or operating points in order to cause the trimming mechanism, the brushing mechanism, and stitching mechanism, to operate upon. the portions of the fabric supported by each impaling pin, and while the desired results could be secured by imparting a continuous rotative movement to each head until the same has been rotated through a complete circle, the present invention contemplates a construction whereby each head is rotated step by step a distance corresponding to the spacing of the impaling pins so that the head being operated upon by the stitching mechanism is held still while the needle inserts a thread between an impaling pin and the loops supported thereby. The head is rotated while the needle is out of engagementwith the impaling pm. This desired step by step rotation of the heads is secured in the embodiment of the invention shown by providing each head receiving portion or station of the turret with a head receiving sleeve 55 which is rotatably mounted in the casting 32 of the turret, see Fig. 9, and each sleeve is provided at its lower end with an operating gear 56. The gears 56 mesh with and are driven by the larger gear 57 mounted concentric with the central axis of the turret, and the gear 57 in. the construction shown has the downwardly extending hub portion 58 and the laterally extending flange 59 provided at its lower face with teeth adapted to engage correspondingly shaped teeth formed upon the Worm wheel 60. The gear parts 57, 58 and 59 are supported for vertical sliding movement and the flange 59 is normally held in engagement with the teeth of worn wheel depressed by the pressure of the spring operated plunger 61. When however, it is desired to index or rotate the turret 14 through an angle of 60 the gear parts 57, 58, and 59 will be raised by mechanism to be described, to permit ilhpS-G parts to rotate with the rotating turret while the worm gear 60 is held by its worm against rotation.

When a head 13 sleeve 55 it is des able to effect positive looking engagement between the head and sleeve so that the rotation of the sleeve 55 will be posi tively imparted to the head supported thereby.

is lowered into its supporting This is accomplished in the construction shown 10 by providing the under face of the flange 18 of each head with one or more key receiving slots 62, see Fig. 9, adapted to receive the correspondingly shaped key 63 rigidly secured to the sleeve 55. As a result of this construction it is neces- 1 sary to effect a relative rotation between a head and the sleeve in which it is mounted to bring the key and slot into alignment with each other. This is accomplished by providing each ring portion 40 of the transferrer 15 with one or more 1 spring operated plungers 64, see Fig. 22, and these plungcrs are adapted to engage the depressions 65 formed in the upper face of the flange 18, see Fi 6. The arrangement is such that the plunger-s 64 will yieldingly hold a head 13 from 1 rotating while the sleeve 55, in which it is mounted, is positively rotated step by step through the gear driving mechanism above mentioned, with the result that the key 63 will be gradually brought into alignment vn'th a slot 62, whereupon 1 the head will move downwardly away from the plungers 64 into positive locking engagement with the sleeve 55.

The mechanism so far described serves to advance the heads 13 to be operated upon to the 1 in position, to transfer the heads from this position to the station I of the turret and to effect the positive rotation of the heads step by stepwhile they are supported by the turret ad- 4 jacent the different operating devices. Power 1 means will now be described for indexing or periodically rotating the turret through successive angles of 68.

In the construction shown all operating parts of the present machine are driven from an elec- 1 trio motor 66, supported by the legs 11 of the machine and power is imparted from the driving pulley of motor the belt 67 to a larger pulley 68 rotatably mounted the horizontally extending shaft 69. The arrangement is such adapted to be moved into and out of engagement 1 with the rotating pulley 68;

The power shaft 69 isemployed to operate two distinct trains of mechanism, each of which, in the construction shown, employ a Geneva gear, one of which Geneva gearsserves' to rotate the heads step by step, as above pointed out, and the other Geneva gear serves to rotate the carrier or turret to present the heads successively to the different stations. These trains of mechanism in the construction shown are operated from the main shaft 69 by twin clutches '71 and 72, see Fig. 20. The clutch '71 rotates the heads 13, operates the trimming mechanism and brush, and operates the stitching or looping mechanism. The clutch '72 serves to rotate or index the turret 14, to raise and lower the transferrer, and to raise and lower thread cutting mechanism to be described, and the parts are so constructed that'the mechanism controlled by one clutch remains inoperative While the mechanism controlled by the other clutch is operating.

The clutches '71 and '72 may be of well known construction and as showncomprise the intermediate actuating member or sleeve '73 adapted to be shifted to the left, see Fig. 20, to actuate the pivoted levers '74 of the clutch '71, and shifted to the right to actuate the pivoted levers '74, of the clutch '72. When the sleeve 73 is shiitedto the left as shown in Fig. 20 it will cause the portion '75 of this clutch, which is keyed or'otherwise secured to the main power shaft 69,'to rotate the portion '76 of the clutch which is loosely journaled upon the shaft 69. The rotation of the portions '76 of the clutch '71 drives the gear 17 secured thereto which in turn rotates the gear 7 8 to drive a shaft '79 provided to operate the trimming mechanism and the brush to be described.

The portion "76 of the clutch '7l servesalso to rotate the hollow shaft or sleeve 80 which is provided at its outer end with a bevei gear 81 adapted to drive the stitching or looping mechanism. The sleeve 80 serves also to rotate the male element 82 of the Geneva gear having the female element 83 rotatably mounted upon a stub shaft 84 sup ported by a bracket 85 mounted upon the main The element 83 structure 10 of the machine. of the Geneva gear held from: moving lengthwise or the shaft 84 in one direction by an annular shoulder near the base of thisshaft, and is held from movement in the opposite direction by a sleeve or stop 86 secured to the shaft by. the bolt 87. The element 83 of the Geneva gear has the bevel pinion 88 adapted to meshwith and drive the bevel gear 89 rigidly secured to the shaft 90, one end of which shaft is journaled in the bracket 85. The shaft 90 extends ina horizontal direction below the turret head 14 and is provided at its outer end with the gear 91, see Figs. 5 and 15. The gear 91 drives, an idle gear 92 which meshes with and drives the change .gear 93se parts driven therefrom thus imparting the deby step rotative movement to the heads.

sired step It is desirable to rotat'e'the head 13 adjacent the stitching or looping mechanism through slightly more than one complete revolution to cause the looping stitches to overlap to'prevent them from pulling out. This is accomplished in 49 teeth,

. the

the embodiment of the invention shown by employing the gear 91 to drive a second group of gears, one of which operates a cam adapted to shift the member '73 of the twin clutch and ef fect indexing of the turret upon the completion of uniting operation. To this end a second idle gear 97 is provided whichmeshes with the gear 91 and serves to'drive the second change gear SS, which change gear is slightly larger the change gear 93. The size of these change gears will depend upon the number of maling' pins of the heads 13, and the size of so gears may be varied to accommodate heads g any desired number of pins. If the iangcgear 93 provided with, say, 18 teeth then the change 98 is provided with, say, the result being that the shaft 94 dri i by the gear 93 will be rotated through sii ntly more than one complete revolution while the shaft 99 is being rotated by the gear 98 through a complete revolution. The shaft 99 rotates a worm 100, see 5, which meshes with the worm wheel 101, see Fig. 24. The idle gears 92 and 97 are conveniently supported by the rocking bracket 102 which may be readily shifted by handle 103 to accommodate differentsize change gears and the bracket 102 may be clamped in the desired position of adjustment by tightening the bolt 104. The worm wheel 101 is provided with a clutch controlling cam 105 having stepped portionifid and cooperating with this cam is the lever 10'? rigidly secured to and extending downwardly from the rocking shaft 108 which shaft is journaled in the brackets 109. At

the lower end of the lever 107 is provided a cam engaging pin or roller 110, the arrangement being. such that the roller 110 iscontinuously urgedagainst the. cam 105 by a spring 111 and when the stepped portion 106 is rotated'past the roller 110- the lever 10'? will move to the left View ing Fig. This will impart a similar rocking 'inovemeht to lever 112 secured to the opposite end of the shaft 108 and this will serveto impart a sliding movement to a rod 113 pivotally secured to the lower end of the lever 112 and supported for sliding movement by the fixed bracket 114.

The sliding sleeve '73 cf the twin clutch is controiied by a yoke 115, one endof which is pivot-' ally secured at 116 to the fixed bracket 114.

The yoke is'continuously urged in a right hand direction viewing Fig. 5 by the spring 117, the lower end of which is connected to a lateral projection 118 provided upon a rocking leverlli),

pivot-ally supported 120 and the outer end of i this lever is provided with a roller 121 adapted to cooperate with a cani'wheel 122 carried by a vertical shaft to be described. A

The yoke 115 is'norznaily held in the position in which it is shown in Fig. 5 that is,'in position to drive the clutch mechanism '11 by the bar 123,

one end of which is pivotally secured at 124 to an in ermediate portion of'tlie lever 119 and this bar-1.43 is provided near its opposite end with a. shoulder to engage a block 126' rigidly secured to the yoke lever 115, and the outer end of the bar 123 is continuously urged towards the block 126 by the spring 127.

The constructionnjust described is such that as long as the clutch controlling levers remain in theposition in which they areshown in Figs.

5 and the portions '76 of the twin clutch will be driven, but when the cam 105 is rotated sufficiently in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 24 to permit the lever 10'! to, swing to the right a corresponding H'iOVGlIlBllllW-lll be imparted to the rod 113, the end of which rests against a face of the bar 123. This movement of the rod 113 will serve to move the shoulder'of the bar 123 out of engagement with the block 126 upon the yoke lever whereupon this lever will be moved by the spring 117 in a direction to release the clutch 71 and engage the clutch 72, thus stopping one set of driving mechanism and starting the operation of a different set of driving mechanism. 7

The clutch 72 serves to drive a bevel pinion 128 that meshes with a bevel gear 129 rigidly secured to the upper end of the downwardly extending shaft 130 which shaft is journaled in a sleeve or tubular bearing 131, carried by the fixed frame 10. The shaft 130 is provided near its lower end with the male element 132 of a larger Geneva gear than above described and having the female element 133. The portion 132 of the Geneva gear is also provided with the cam 134 adapted to actuate thev rocking arm 135 having the cam engaging roller 136. The arm 135 is rigidly secured to a horizontal extending shaft 137 journaled in brackets supported beneath the'main frame 10 of the machine, and rigidly secured to the shaft 137 and extending therefrom in an opposite direction to that of the arm 135 is the lever 138. At the outer end of this lever is provided the yoke 139 having the pins 140 which project into a groove of a sleeve 141 rigidly secured to the lower end of the hollow shaft 35. The arrangement is such that when the arm 135 is forced downwardly .by the cam 134 the lever 138 will be rocked upwardly to raise the transferrer 15 from its loweredposition of Fig. 3 to its elevated position of Fig. 2.

The element 133 of the Geneva gear is keyed to the upper end of thishollow shaft is keyed or otherwise rigidly secured the hub 144 of the casting 32 of the rotating carrier or turret 14. The downward thrust of the shaft 142 under the weight of the turret is supported by the ball bearing 145, the upper ring of which bearing engages an annular shoulder upon the shaft 142, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. The worm gear 60, above mentioned, is rotatably mounted upon the shaft 142 above the ball bearing 145 and the gear hub or casting 58 is rotatably mounted upon the shaft 142 and is supported for limited sliding movement lengthwise of the shaft 142 to permit the teeth of the flange 59 to be moved into and out of engagement with the teeth of the worm gear 60, as above mentioned. The spring actuated plunger 61 above described presses downwardly upon the ball bearing 146 carried by the gear 57.

The main power shaft 69 is preferably driven at relatively high speed to operate the stitching or looping mechanism rapidly but it is desirable to effect the indexing of the turret at a slower speed and this is accomplished by employing a relatively small bevel pinion128 to drive a larger gear 129 that operates the shaft 130 and lower Geneva gear. The turret 14, asabove pointed out, is supported by and positively rotated by the hollowshaft 142 carrying the element 133 of the Geneva gear at its lower end. If desired worm gears may replace the bevel gears 128, 129. I

It is important to provide means for holding the teeth of the elements 59 and 60 disengaged during the indexing of the turret 14. To this end in the construction shown a shaft 147 is mounted in the hollow shaft 142 for vertical sliding movement and the lower end of this shaft is provided with a grooved sleeve 148 adapted to receive operating pins 149 carried by the rocking lever 138. The shaft, 147 is provided near its upper end with a transversely extending slot having rigidly secured therein the transversely extending key 150, the opposite ends of which project outwardly through verticalslots 151 formed in the opposite sides of the hollow shaft 1.42. The arrangement is such that when the shaft 147 is forced upwardly by the upward rocking movement ofthe lever 133 the end portions of the key 150 will engage the shouldered portion 152 of the hub 58 to raise this head driving gear to release the same from the worm gear 60.

The construction of the cam. 134 that rocks the transversely extending shaft 137 is such that these parts will occupy the position in which they are shown in Fig. 3 during the stitching operation, that is, during the period that the heads 13 are being rotated and are being acted upon at the various stations, but the arm 135 is held depressed by the cam 134 during the indexing or rotation of the turret 14 through an angle of 60. This is best illustrated in Fig. 25 in which the direction that the male element 132 of the Geneva gear rotates is indicated. The arm 135 Will be held depressed by the cam 134 while the roller 153 of the Geneva gear is being moved from the position of, 160 to a position of approximately 270 viewing Fig. 25, whereupon the earn 134 will permit the parts to return to the position in which they are shown in Fig. 3 under the weight of the transferrer 15.

It will be seen from. the operating mechanism so far described the during the stitching operation of the machine the clutch controlling levers will occupy the position in which they are shown in Figs. 1, 5, and 23, to cause the main shaft 69 to drive the clutch mechanism 71, the Geneva gear mechanism 83, the shaft 79, and the looping mechanism, to be described, and when the parts driven by the change gear 98 have rotated the cam 105 through a complete revolution the thrust rod 113 will be actuated to disengage the bar 123 from the block 126, whereupon the clutch operating yoke 115 will be shifted by the, spring 117 to release the driving mechanism, just described, and operate the bevel pinion 123 to operate the large Geneva gear and cam 134. The rotation of the bevel gear 129 and the parts operated thereby will continue until the shaft 130 has been-rotated through one complete revolution. whereupon the yoke arm 115 will be shifted in the opposite direction to stop driving the bevel pinion 128 and initiate rotation of the mechanism controlled by the opposite clutch 71. To accomplish this the cam 122 above described, is rigidly secured. to the vertical shaft 130 and. as this cam is rotated through nearly a complete revolution the flattened portion 154 thereof will be positioned opposite the roller secured at 124 to the thrust bar 123, and as a result the rocking lever 119 will be permitted to move further in a right hand direction viewing Fig. 5 under the action of the spring 117. This will cause the shoulder 125 to engage behind the block 126 so that the further rotation of the cam 122 will force the thrust bar 123 in a left hand direction viewing Fig. 5 to shift the sleeve 73 of the clutch in a left hand direction. 4

Having described the operating mechanism for the turret 14, transferrer 15, and the mechanism for rotating the heads 13 when carried by the shearing knives.

turret; the mechanism for operating upon the heads 13 at the different stations II, III, IV and V will now be described.

When the portions a and b of a sock or stocking are placed upon the impaling pins 19 parts will protrude from the row of pins somewhat, as shown in Fig. 6, and it is desirable to trim these portions of the sock or stocking close to the pins so that only a single loop of each piece of fabric a and b remains about each impaling pin 19. Mechanism to this end is best shown in Figs. 6 and 7 wherein the shearing means illustrated consists of a fixed blade 155 secured to a bracket 159, adjustably mounted on the support 156 secured to the main frame 10, and cooperating with the fixed blade is the movable blade 157 which is rigidly secured to its operating shaft 158, journaled in the supporting bracket 159 and the movable blade 157 is yieldingly' held in shearing engagement with the fixed blade 155 by the coiled spring 160. The operating shaft 158 is provided at its outer end with an operating arm 161, the outer end of which arm is secured to the downwardly extending lever or pitman 162 provided at its lower end with an eccentric yoke adapted to receive the eccentric 163 rigidly secured to the operating shaft 79, above described, see Fig. 2. It may be desirable to swing the cutter blade 157 upwardly from time to time to an inoperative position so that the cuttin edge may be sharpened andthis is readilyaccomplished by providing a slot and key connection between the shaft 158 and arm 161, which are normally held in locking engagement with each other by the spring 160, but which may be readily disengaged by pulling the shaft 158 by the knob thereupon to the right, viewing Fig. 5.

The cutter supporting bracket 159 is preferably mounted upon the base plate 156 for sliding adjustment in a direction to move the cutter blades towardsand from the impaling pins 19 and to this end the bracket 159 is adjustably secured to the base plate 156 by the bolts 164. The adjusting bolt having the knurled head 165 is provided so that it may be rotated to slide the bracket 159 towards and from the work.

The protruding portions a and b of the fabric to be sheared may tend to curl away from the horizontal position and it is necessary to straighten these portions before presenting them to the This is'accomplished by providing the upper and lower guides 166 and 167 which are supported slightly spaced and in parallel relation to each other so that the protruding portions of the fabric may be advanced therebetween to the shearing means. If the portions of the fabric a and b happen to be tightly curled as they approach the guides 166 and 167 they may not enter these guides properly, and in order to prevent this the bent wires or springs 168 and 169 are provided which are yieldingly supported by the posts 170 and the outer ends of these wires rest in notches formed in the guides 166 and 167, as shown in Fig. 8; The arrangement is such that during the rotation of the tur-.

ret 14 a head being advanced to the shearing position will pass in close proximity to'the wires 168 and 169 and the V-shaped portion of these wires shown in Fig. 8 will enter the space between the curled fabrics at and b and the adjacent head to straighten out these fabrics as they pass be-' tween the guides 166 and 167. As a result of this construction the fabrics will be properly trimmed close to the impaling pins, as shown in Fig. 6.

After the trimming operation is performed it is desirable to remove the trimmed portions of the fabrics, andthis is accomplished at station III through the employment of the oscillating brush 171 which is rigidly secured to the upper end of the operating shaft 172 and this shaft, it should be noted, is supported at an inclination to the axis of the adjacent head 13. Theshaft .172 is rotatably supported at the inclination just mentioned by the frame 173 supported by the upright shaft 174, the arrangement being such that the bracket 173 may be adjusted about the shaft 17 1 to move the brush towards and from the work. This is accomplished by mounting upon the bracket-173 the worm 175 adapted to be turned by the hand knob 176, and this worm meshes with the teeth of the fixed worm gear 177. The shaft 172 and brush 171 are rocked back and forth through a relatively small angle and this is accomplished by providing the lower end of the shaft 172 with the operating gear 178 adapted to be engaged and rotated by the gear segment 179 which segment is supported by the shaft 174 for rocking movement. Movement is imparted to the gear segment 179 from the operating shaft 79 which is provided with an eccentric adapted to operate the eccentric element 180, the outer end of which is connected to the gear segment by the ball joint 181. The arrangement just described is such that as the brush 171 is oscillated its bristles move back and forth diagonally of the fabric loops engaging the impaling pins 19 to clear these loops of all out portions of the fabrics.

After the fabrics carried by a head 13 have been sheared and brushed they are presented to the stitching or looping mechanism of station No. IV where the portions or and b of the fabric are united as shown in Fig. 10. The uniting operation may be performed through the employment of a single thread stitch or two separate stitches may be employed, the latter construction being illustrated in the drawings. It is also desirable that a yielding type of stitch be provided for uniting the portions (1 and b to form a yielding joint between these portions. Stitching or looping devices adapted to perform this type of work are well known and have been employed heretofore and the looping mechanism shown in the drawings is for the most part well known but certain improvements have been made therein over the prior art.

The stitching or looping mechanism is driven in the construction shown from the bevel gear 81, driven by the portion 7]. of the twin clutch. To this end is provided theoperating shaft 13.2 for the stitching mechanism which rotatably supported by a bracket 183 secured to the main frame 10, and at one end of this shaft is provided the bevel gear 184 adapted to mesh with the driving gear 81. The shaft 182 is provided with two eccentrics 185 and 186 adapted to operate the needle 187 and the looping needle 188 respectively The needle 187 has the curved construction shown in Fig. 9 and is rigidly secured to the outer end of its operating arm 189, which arm is secured to and operated by the horizontally extending shaft 190. At the opposite end of the shaft 196 is provided the arm 191 which is connected to the upper end of the link 192 actuated by the eccentric 185 and the arm is rigidly secured to a rocking shaft 194.

This shaft, it should be noted, is disposed at right angles to the shaft 190 and rocking movement is imparted to the shaft 194 by, the arm 195 secured to the opositc e d of the shaft. The 195 is connected to the 321 on of the adjustable link 196 by the ball J d reciprocatory movement is imparted to this li k by the eccentric 186.

The needle 18"] and looper 183 and their supporting shafts are carried by the uprig it bracket 198 which is shown as mounted upon the supporting structure 183 for sliding adjustment towards and from the work, and to this end the base of the bracket 198 is adjustebly secured to the support-- ing stand 183 by the clamping bolts 199 and movement of the bracket 198 towards and from the work is efiected by rotatin the adjusting bolt having knurled head 2410.

The stitching mechanism just described may operate in a well known manner, the arrangement being such that the needle 187 is moved Llpwardly along each impaling pin to carry the looped unitingthread 201 upwardly between the adjacent impaling pin 19 and the loops or the fabrics a and b. Each impalng pin s pr erably grooved at its outer face as she in rig. 10 to facilitate the passage of the needle 18? between the pin and fabric loops. As the thread 201 is carried upwardly by the needie through the looped portions of the s-rics. n aged by the looper needle 18%? at a positionv above the plane of the fabrics a and b and held while needle is withdrawn, and after the needle withdrawn from the fabric the looping needle advanced to form a loop in its thread which in turn is engaged and held by the needle. In this way a series of yielding looped stitches are formed in a well known manner uniting the looped portions of the fabric a and 2) supported by the impaling pins 19. The thread 291 may be supplied to the needle from the source of supply 202, see Fig. 3 and the thread 203 is supplied to the looping V needle from a similar source of supply 2%.

The stitching or uniting operation is performed upon a head until the head has been rotated through slightly in re than one. complete revolution, as above pointed out, whereupo the stitch-- ing operation and step by step rotation of the head is arrested and the turret 14 is indexed to present the next head 13 to the stitching. device. At the same timethe head finished is advanced from the station No. IV to the station. No. V position and this is done without severing he threads 2G1 and 203 so that these threads extend from the needles 18'? and 188 to the station V position. This is desirable to prevent the threads from being cut and pulled out of the eyes of the needles when the stitching operation is started upon the net-it head. .After portion of the stitching operation has been completed the threads just mentioned may be out without danger of the same pulling loose from the fabric.

One good practical form of mechanism for cutting or severing the threads just mentioned adjacent one head at the station IV position and a second adjacent the station V position will now be described. The mechanism shown to this end comprises a bracket 205 adapted to carry two cutting blades to be described, and this brackcred. This bracket lies in close proximity to the.

table 14 of the turret during the looping operation but is raised sufiiciently to clear the adand vancing head 13 during the turret indexing op-, eration. The movement of the bracket 265 is secured by operatively connecting the sliding shaft 206 to the lower horizontal extending shaft 13'? which, as above pointed out, is periodically rocked by the actuating cam 134. To this end the shaft 137 has rigidly secured thereto the laterally extending arm 2%, (see Fig. 2), and the outer end of this arm has pivotally secured there-- to the connecting link 209, the upper end of which is secured at 210 to an of the segmental gear 211, W3 ch is rigidly secured to the shaft 212 supported for rocking movement, and the teeth of this segmental. gear engage the rack teeth of the vertical shaft 206, as clearly shown in Fig. 19. The arrangement is such that when the arm'135 s'depressed by the cam 134.- preparatory to in g the turret, the arm 208 will be similarly depressed. This will rock the segmental gear 211 upwardly to raise the shaft 206 to move the bracket 205 at the upper end of this shaft out of the path of the head 13 being moved at this time to station V by the turret.

In the construction shown the knife supporting bracket 2G5 provided with two razor blades and 214 each of which is held by a suitably constructed holder as best shown in Fig. 19, and one of those razor is supportedadjacent the head 13 station V, while the other is supported adjacent the head at station IV.

To fe 'ilitate the severing of the threads 201 so. between the heads 13, just mentioned, it is desirable to clamp these threads between the heads, and this is accomplished in ccordance with the present invention by pro upon the upper face of the turret 14 the clamping blocks 215 and by providing upon the bracket 205 the spring pressed plune'ers 216 and 217, for clamping the threads against the blocks 215. The arangement is such that when the bracket is lowered the threads will be clamped near each head 13, as clearly shown in Fig. 27, and while the threads held clamped the rotation of the heads 13 will carry thc'thrcads to be severed. against the knives 213 and 21 1 to thereby sever the threads adjacent each head. As a result of this construction it should be noted that the threads extending from the head in the station IV position are not severed until this sad has been rotated through an angle of approximately 90, thus insuring that the looping or uniting operation will have been advanced sufficiently to firmly secure the threads to the fabrics before the threads are severed.

It is further desirable to provide slack in the extending from he clamping means 217 to the eye of the needle and loopin needle so that these needles will operate properly as they gin operating upon the next head 13. This des ed slack is produced in the construction shown by providing the bracket 205 with a vertically movable rack or plunger 218 which it normally held in its repressed or lowered position by spring, not shown. The teeth of the rack 218 mesh with a gear 219, (see Fig. 19), which gear is rigidly secured to a horizontally extending shaft 220 jcurnaled in the bra ket 205 and at the outer end of this shaft is rigidly secured he arm 221. Above the arm 221 is mounted a second arm 222' (see 26) and this second arm is supported at 223 for rocking movement. To the outer end ofeach of the arms 221 and 222 is pivotally secured the thread deflecting bar 224. The arrangement is such that as the cutter supporting bracket 205 is lowered the rack support d at 233.

218 will be forced upwardly by its engagement with the turret. This will; rotate the arm 221 and also the arm 222 through the connection link 224 therebetween, with the result that the link will be moved laterally from the position in which it is shown in dotted lines of Fig. 19, to the position in which-it is shown in full lines of Fig. 26, thus forcing or deflecting the threads 201 and 203 laterally to produce the desired slack. As above pointed out when the uniting opera tion is finished upon one head this head is advanced to the next station without severing the threads, but in order that this may be done it is necessary to position both needl 187 and 188 s that the threads may pull freely of the needles; t is therefore necessary to bring the needles to rest in a predetermined position each time the stitching operation is stopped to permit indexing of the turret. A further feature of the present invention therefore resides in means for bringing the needles'to rest in the desired predetei ned position. This is accomplished in the embodiment of the invention illustrated by providing means for rotating the needle operating 182 in the reverse direction through a part of a revolution as the stitching machine is brought to rest.

To this end in the construction shown the needle operating shaft 182 has rigidly secured thereto the rotating ratchet 225, having the shoulder best shown in Fig. 9, and which is adapted to be engaged by the pawl 22 This pawl is pivotally mounted at 22'? upon an arm 228 provided upon the sleeve 229. This sleeve 229 is loosely mounted upon the drive shaft 182 andis provided at one end with the segmental gear 239, see Fig. l p p The sleeve normally held turned to. the right hand position in it is shown in dotted lines in 9, and the pawl 225 is normally held rocked from the revolving ratchet 225 by the pawl suppoi plate 231, carried at the upper end of the lever which is pivotally The position of the lever 232 con c ed by the clutch sliifhg yoke 115 and ace pl sh this the yoke 115 is provided at its outer d th a spring operated plunger 234 adapted to shift arm 235 of a hell crank lever pivoted at 22 see 5. The second arm 23? of this lever is connected by the link 238 to the lower endof the pawl supporting lever 232.. The

arrangement is such that when the clutch actuating yoke 115 is shifted in a right hand direction viewing 5 to index the turret the bell crank I the pawl to the left hand position in which it is operating shaft 132 i T erves to rotate the needle the reversed direction through an angle of approximately 96 and serves to remove the needles from th work and out of the loopslformed in the threads so that the threads may pass freely through the eyes of the needles a head 13 is being advanced from station IV to station V.

The desired rotation of the sleeve .229 just mentioned is secured in the construction shown by utilizing the rocking movement of the segshown in Fig. 9.

rough the eyes mental gear'211 to rotate the sleeve 229. Since the shaft 212 is rigidly secured to the segmental gear211, as above mentioned, the rocking movement of the gear is impartedto the shaft 212 and to the outer end of this shaft is secured a segmental gear 239, see Figs. 5 and 19. The arrangement is such that the downward rocking movement of the arm 135 under the action of the cam 134 s V so as 1 01311111 the pawl carrying sleeve 229 in a direction to shift the pawl from the right hand position of Fig. 9 to the left hand position of this figure to thereby rotate the shaft 182 in reversed direction. The movement of the sleeve it mentioned serves also to actuate the thread ten ioningdevices 240 and 241 to re-' lease the tension upon their respective threads and This accomplished byproviding adjacent each of these tensioning devices the yarn'releasing arms 242 adapted to be swung upwardly by the rocking movement of their supporting shaft 243 to a position between the tensioning discs 240 to force these discs apart. The desired movement is imparted to the yarn releas+ ing arms .242 by providing the shaft 243 which supports these arms with an oppositely extending operating arm having connected thereto the upper end of the link 244. The lower end of this link is connected to the arm 228 to be actuated by the rocking movement of the sleeve.

It is important that the turret each time it is indexed be firmly held against movement during the entire stitching or looping operation. This is accomplished by providing in the outer periphery of the turret 14 the bolt recesses 245 adapted to receive a vertical sliding bolt 246 carried by the shaft 205, the arrangementbeing such that when the shaft 206 is lowered the bolt will-be moved thereby downwardly into snug locking engagerigidly secured to the bracket 20?. These blocks are constructed to snugly receive the locking bolt 246 to effect the desiredpositive locking engageand fixed ment between the rotating turret frame.

After a head 13 has been carried by the turret 14 successively to the different stations hum-- bered I and VI inclusive it is conveyed by the transferror 15 from the station VI position to the fout position, as above pointed out. In the construction shown the heads 13 are conveyer away from the out position by the sprocket chains 247 which are preferably provided with the upwardly extending projections 248 adapted to engage the annular flange 18 of each head to move the heads away from the looping mechanism as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3.

The chains 24? andthe belts 23 are conveniently driven in the construction shown from the gear 34, which asabovo pointed out, is driven from thering gear 33, and to this end the supporting structure 12 of the machine is provided with the vertically disposed gear supporting shaft 249 adapted to rotatablysupport the gear 250 which meshes with and is driven by the gear 34, see Fig. 3. v The gear 250 has the bevel pinion 251 adapted to drive in opposite directions the spaced bevel gears 252 and 253. The gear 252 drives the pulleys 24 for the belt 23 in a direction to supply the heads 13 to the in position, and the bevel'gear 253 drives the chains 24'? in the opposite direction to move the heads away from the font position. The parts just mentioned are journaled upon the shaft 25.

yes to operate the segmental gear 

